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RAW RAW on 07/05/99 (a taped show) aired live in Canada on TSN. The
show opened with Steve Austin coming to the ring to address
Undertaker's "first blood" challenge for the next PPV. The interview
went something like "...ass...ass...sonofabitch...bitch...ass, " but
the fans liked it. Vince McMahon came out with the revelation that the
WWF isn't big enough for the both of them, that one of them has to
leave. If he wants that, why not just fire Austin? Yeah, well, Vince
decided to offer a new stipulation for the PPV match, because he's so
sure that UT will win. And, hey, is anybody excited at the prospect of
another Undertaker vs. Austin PPV main event? Vince said if Austin
lost the match he would have to agree to never challenge for the WWF
Title again. If Austin won, Vince would never get involved in Austin's
dealings again, "neither you nor any of these people will ever see
Vince McMahon again." Austin accepted, of course. The commentators
pitched the deal as "all of nothing" for Austin and McMahon. Great
storylines? On Canada's Movie Network, they started rebroadcasting
"The Sopranos" tonight; now that show has great storylines.
The Rock did an interview telling us that he is "genetically
electrifying" and that he would lay the smack down on Hunter Hearst
Helmsley's roody poo candy ass, if you smell what the Rock is cooking.
Maybe the claim that he "emits electricity" somehow explains why his
nipples look so weird. In the first match, the Hardy Boyz challenged
the Acolytes for the WWF Tag Titles. The Hardy Boyz bumped well for
the Acolytes, and that bump-taking will hopefully get them over.
Faarooq somehow managed to come close to flubbing a neckbreaker spot
as the recipient of the move; I swear he flubs that move more than any
other guy with experience. The Boyz used a cane shot and a tornado DDT
for the upset win at 4:27.
Back from a commercial, Godfather faced Gangrel. Based on their tag
match loss on Heat, Droz & Prince Albert had to come out dressed as
hos. Godfather came out with a couple of women, invited Val Venis out,
and then called out Droz & Albert, calling them the two newest members
of the ho train. Droz was having fun being dressed as a woman,
grinding a bit and having shaved his legs. Jim Ross said that Droz
liked the attire. Gangrel attacked before the bell. Match was usually
bad when they showed the, er, action instead of the hos, lasting 1:20
before Godfather hit a legdrop. At that point, Droz & Albert & Gangrel
attacked Venis. Edge & Christian came out to complain with Gangrel
over attacking Venis.
Test faced Joey Abs of the Mean Street Posse, who now have their own
entrance music instead of being history with the promotion after
losing a match with a loser leaves the WWF stipulation. Test tackled
him on the ramp, tossed him in the ring, and they had a short match.
Joey is another mediocre-at-best worker, but the work hardly matters
in this environment. At 1:53, the Mean Street Posse ran in while Shane
held Stephanie on the ramp, forcing her to watch her boyfriend get
pummelled. You know, I really wish we could see Linda McMahon every
week too, involved in loads of storylines. For some reason, though,
Shane let Stephanie loose so she could tend to her battered beau. And
doesn't Stephanie have any friends that she can get involved in the
show? And they say this isn't a family show.
In a weird WCWish deal, Heat and RAW still air commercials telling us
that the special Steve Austin 3:16 magazine that has been available in
stores here for a couple of weeks will be available soon. Back from a
commercial, Chyna & HHH were telling the police that X-Pac & Road Dogg
vandalized Chyna's car. Would the police look like buffoons for
another Monday night?
Al Snow faced D'Lo Brown in a Hardcore Title match. They brawled
backstage in the usual way. Midian interfered, but since anything goes
in the hardcore "style" that was perfectly legal. The commentators
pointed out how all of the earlier stuff (objects, low blows) were
legal because anything goes, but Jim Ross was upset by the
interference. Go figure. Al Snow did a careful splash off a lift
through a table for the win at 5:10. The police were looking around
for Road Dogg backstage.
Val Venis faced Road Dogg. They had a pedestrian match while the
commentators talked about the charges levied at X-Pac & Road Dogg. Me,
I was wondering how long it would take the police to get out. Sure
enough, a few minutes in, the police came out with a handcuffed X-Pac
to handcuff Road Dogg and take him off. Match ran 1:38. Mr. Ass &
Chyna watched on backstage, saying that they were forced to play
dirty. The police carted off the villains -- and wasn't it nice that
they had "POLICE" stenciled on their black t-shirts? They should do
this for everybody; it would help the audience. "COMMENTATOR" for Jim
Ross. "PUPPIES" for Debra. "ACTRESSES PLAYING HOS (NOT PROSTITUTES)"
for the hos. "WRESTLER" for X-Pac; they could probably just get one
shirt with that word on it. "MARK CALAWAY THINKING HE'S THIS CHARACTER
THAT VINCE CREATED" for Undertaker. "GLEN JACOBS THINKING HE'S THE
BROTHER OF THIS CHARACTER THAT VINCE CREATED." On the backside of
those shirts, they could write, "WE ADMITTED THEY AREN'T RELATED, BUT
WE'LL CALL THEM BROTHERS AGAIN, ANYHOW." Hey, this is fun.
Chaz faced Jeff Jarrett, with Jim Ross wondering who Chaz knows in
high places. At 1:20, Debra climbed on the apron to distract Chaz,
with Chaz' former mom, now his girlfriend, Marianna, coming around to
break it up. Chaz stopped to see that his girlfriend wasn't going to
get mauled; after all, Sting was recently attacked by dogs. That let
Jarrett get the pin at 1:47. Afterwards, JJ & Debra were planning a
guitar smashing, but Glen Ruth, the other half of the old Headbangers
team, came in for the save.
They aired a commercial for Fully Loaded. It only hyped HHH & Chyna.
Hey, wasn't HHH going to get a title shot against the Undertaker on
this PPV? Now, Undertaker faces Austin, right? Why does the commercial
just hype HHH & Chyna, then? I know it doesn't matter because people
order the WWF product for reasons other than any individual match, but
it seemed like HHH was going to be given a main event spot this time
out. I'm not complaining. Oh wait, we've got Undertaker vs. Austin
again...I am complaining.
Edge came to the ring. He came through the crowd again, yet another
indication that the face turn isn't far off. And if you need another
one, he faced Big Boss Man, who JR called "villainous." At 2:22, Edge
hit the spear for the pin. Boss Man handcuffed Edge to the rope and
beat him up a bit, knocked out the referee, was stopped by Christian
for a second, handcuffed Christian, and beat both guys up.
HHH did an interview saying that he would be WWF champion come hell or
high water. Hmmm, I think they should make the First Blood match a
Last Blood triangle match. When you bleed, you're eliminated.
Ass beat Meat. Meat now wrestles in his underwear, which is surely the
new ingredient to make him a superstar. Chyna joined Ass. This was
another throwaway match, running 1:39 before "ultra-agressive" Billy
Gunn used the famouser for the pin. After the match, Chyna decked
Jacqueline and the heels used black spraypaint to spray NWO, er, DX on
their backs. JR: "This spraypainting idea is original, isn't it?" JR
suggested that the spraypaint might be the same paint that was used on
Chyna's car.
Big Slow & Bob Holly vs. Kane & X-Pac was up next. Since X-Pac was
carted off to jail, he wasn't around to save this match. I don't know
about you, but I was hoping that Slow & Kane would lock up for five or
six minutes again, hopefully doing another double foot-to-the-face
(okay, foot-to-the-air) spot. It was like a parejas increible match
with Holly & Slow together. Man, this was exciting. Holly lectured
Slow before the match. Big Slow threw some "ham-like" rights and
lefts. Kane vs. Slow...it just doesn't get better than this!
Misawa-who? Slow tagged in Holly after a powerslam. Holly got in 20
seconds of offense, tops. Undertaker & Paul Bearer came out, with Slow
walking into the ring to stare at them. Behind him, the match
continued, with the ref nonplussed by Big Slow standing in the ring.
Kane choke slammed Holly for the pin at 2:33. He then clipped Slow,
and UT & Kane destroyed the Slow One. It was awesome. Kane has been
lured over to the dark side by the evil supernatural forces of his
wicked brother. Oh, wait, Vince told us that Undertaker is just Mark
Calaway playing a character. Where does that leave Kane, anyhow? Who
knows? Who cares? This is drama, man. They double suplexed Big Slow.
Kane walked off. Undertaker chaired Slow, who did an incredibly
blatant blade job right away. This is wrestling!
HHH faced Rock in a cage match, the kind of cage match where you have
to escape the cage to win. HHH came to the ring with Chyna. Rock came
to the ring with deformed nipples. You'd think with all of the plastic
surgery contacts that the WWF has for breast purposes that they'd be
able to fix the Rock up with somebody. JR called the Rock a
"magnificent athlete." The cage was chain link, not that metal
huge-square atrocity. Match was all punches. Rock tried to climb out
at a corner, but HHH hooked his feet and Rock whacked into the
turnbuckle. These guys aren't great workers; they are mediocre-to-good
at best. HHH, in particular, doesn't have that much to offer to me;
Rock at least has huge charisma. Chyna passed HHH some handcuffs, but
HHH couldn't attach the Rock to the cuffs. HHH tried to climb out.
It's annoying to see them try to climb out when the door is right
there. Yeah, it sets up an exciting bump. Match was very slow. As Rock
crawled to the door, Chyna knocked out the ref and did the Terry Gordy
door-slam on Rock's head. Chyna then pulled HHH out of the ring. Rock
followed. They brawled on the ramp. Chyna got involved. The stumbled
around. HHH tried for a pedigree on the floor, but ended up getting
slingshotted into the cage. Rock tossed HHH back into the cage and
climbed in after him, with the referee recovering at that point. Rock
then stumbled to the corner and tried to climb out, when the door was
right there. Sigh. HHH didn't go for the door, instead opting to pull
Rock back down. Rock made it to the top of the cage. No. He stopped
and did an axe handle off the top rope. There were some good exchanges
during this portion of the match. But the inanity of these guys always
forsaking the door was annoying. HHH made it out over the top, but
Rock caught him by the hair. Rock and HHH sat on top of the cage and
punched each other. For some reason, HHH, after chairing Rock, decided
to climb down inside the cage. Why he didn't go down the outside is
beyond reasoning. HHH crotched himself, got tied in the ropes, and
went for the door. Rock did the slow descent on the cage wall, while
HHH went to the door in a slow crawl. The old photo finish, with Rock
getting the win at 13:55. Good match, despite some stupidity. Billy
Gunn ran out to attack the Rock.
Tally time: 36:36 of bell-to-bell wrestling, which must be close to a
record. We still don't know who raised the briefcase at the PPV.
Nitro Nitro on 07/05/99 aired in full on TSN on Wednesday afternoon.
The rumoured main event was Sid vs. Kevin Nash for the WCW Title, and
Bret Hart was hyped as making his first wrestling show appearance
since Owen's death. I should mention the god-awful vignettes involving
Kevin Nash & Randy Savage on Thunder last week. I don't want to go
into them at all, since it was painful enough to see them, but they
deserved mentioning because of how bad and unproductive they were.
And, wow, Megadeath was slated to appear. If rap is crap, what does
that make heavy metal?
First match had Juventud Guerrera vs. Chavo Guerrero Jr. in what
promised to be a great match that nobodym including the commentators,
cared about. Juvi mocked Chavo by pretending to ride a stick horse.
Just so we know that we shouldn't pay attention to these guys, the
commentators didn't bother to explain that. Just like they didn't
explain the LWO stuff when Eddy reappeared. The commentators hyped
Bret Hart's interview later in the show, which seemed a bit weird, but
we'll have to see how the interview goes down before judging things.
Tony Schiavone and Bobby Heenan once again declared that Sting was
driving the hummer, although Heenan pointed out that there have been
other Sting impersonators in the past. Still, Schiavone said that the
famous reflection in the mirror was definitely Sting. Sigh. Match was
good, with some really sweet exchanges. Juvi countered a double axe
handle with a foot to the face. Juvi rolled through a power bomb,
tried his own, got taken down with rana, and the guys went through
several near falls. Juvi hit the driver and then went for the firebird
splash, but Chavo popped up (too quickly) and took him down. Chavo
couldn't hit the tornado DDT. And then, just to make sure that we know
that these guys are jobbers that we shouldn't give a crap about, Sid &
Randy Savage came out and laid out both guys. Sid powerbombed Chavo.
Savage did his elbow on Juvi, hitting hard. What a bastard. He can't
take the brunt of that bump himself any more, brutally injures Charles
Robinson, and keeps doing the damn move because his ego can't let him
take his proper place in the promotion. Bastard. Sid wore the WCW
Title, that he borrowed last week. Sid did some bad mic work. Savage
to the microphone, said nothing, and Sid started ranting again. It was
horrible. The fans didn't really give a crap. Nash came up on the
giant screen, with Torrie Wilson looking all sexy behind him. When
Thunder ended last week, Savage had Torrie. Now she's with Nash. Does
that make sense to anybody? Nash said that George was getting dressed
right now. She came out with a Nash t-shirt on. The interview was just
brutal. Finally, they got to the point: Sid challenged Nash for a
match tonight. Even if you think that building up Sid vs. Nash is a
good idea, the way that they've been doing it has been pathetic. Call
the match 7:11.
Back from a commercial and after DJ Ran got out of my area, Gene
Okerlund interviewed Ric Flair, with David Flair standing there as
well. Ric announced that Scott Steiner had failed to defend the US
Title and would have to be stripped of the belt. Sigh, what a sad way
to do that. Ric announced that since David Flair beat Kevin Nash by
countout last week, he's the obvious number one contender for the WCW
Title, so Ric awarded the US Title to him. Oh lord. Sopmehow, Charles
Robinson managed to get a hold of the US strap, and he walked out with
it now, giving it to David as balloons fell from the ceiling. It was
so said. Flair drew little heat from the crowd coming out, in Atlanta,
sigh, because Nash is such a great booker. Buff Bagwell came out and
said he wanted to have the first title shot at David's US Title. Buff
ridiculed Ric Flair and tried to steal Ric's thunder. Hey, wasn't Buff
primarily feuding with Roddy Piper, while Dean Malenko was primarily
feuding with Ric Flair? Wouldn't it have made sense, then, to have
Dean come out and challenge Ric for pushing his son? Well, we got Buff
and that's just tough.
El Vampiro Canadiense faced Rick Steiner. Boy, they really must see a
lot in the money they put into Vampiro. They held him off TV for a
long while as they developed a way to use him effectively, and here he
is jobbing for Rick Steiner in a whopping 1:19. Why? Can you believe
that they are going to push Van Hammer but they've totally buried
Vampiro? Okay, so Juvi complained about Vampiro after their match at
Club La Vela, but that doesn't mean that they should throw away the
money they spent on him. Afterwards, Lenny Lane & Lodi did some more
really badly acted, really sad homosexual stuff. TSN did something
strange here, as the segment ended with a clip of Edge entering the
ring on RAW. TSN then blipped that and replayed the last minute or so
of the Lodi/Lane skit.
And here came the Bret Hart segment. First, before a commercial and
the interview with Bret, they aired a short video clip of Bret Hart's
short time in WCW, reading the text of Bret's Calgary Sun column to
Owen Hart. Certainly, Bret should be given much more latitude than the
WWF when it comes to talking about Owen's death or arguably using
Owen's death for his own wrestling-related pruposes. It still seemed a
bit weird at this time, although it was all sensitive and all that.
The weirdness came because the interview with Bret was clearly placed
to rival the opening segment of RAW, which means it was obviously
hoped that it would maintain a rating. Bret's interview, just him in
the ring alone, seemed to be similar to his RAW interview where he
announced he was staying with the WWF for the rest of his career: it
seemed like Bret was told he could go in the ring and say whatever he
wanted. Well, call me a mark for Bret Hart's style, but this interview
seemed honest and legitimate to me. I could feel Bret's emotion, sense
his inner turmoil. More than once he had a look in his eye that
suggested to me that he was tired and so sad. A single tear streamed
from my right eye, I've got to say. Hulk Hogan & Eric Bischoff & Bret
Hart have met to discuss the possibility of Bret returning to WCW to
be a hero, since he can't return as the heel he was before Owen's
death. When Bret said he hadn't decided his future yet, I believed
him.
Eddy Guerrero's wallet was stolen some time earlier. Eddy complained
to Doug Dillenger about it, saying a masked wrestler took his wallet
and asking Doug to round up the masked men so that Eddy could pick out
the villain.
Ernest Miller faced Jerry Flynn in a kickboxing challenge. Oh man.
Maybe if isn't wrestling, Miller might actually look good. This was so
stupid. Anyhow, after lots of boring stuff, Miller punched Flynn when
he wasn't supposed to and got DQed. Match ran 5:00. And all of the
viewers that had stayed on through Bret Hart flipped channels long
before this crap.
Lodi faced Hammer. Hammer sucks. Man, WCW has so much bad stuff. Sigh.
Lenny Lane was their to support his man. Match stunk, with Hammer
using his cobra clutch slam for the pin at 4:09.
Roddy Piper came out to talk with Gene Okerlund. Piper brought out
somebody dressed like Sting. The fake Sting shook his head "no" when
asked if he was ever in the humvee. But I saw him beat up Rick Steiner
after bursting out of the hummer. Piper whacked the fake Sting and
unmasked him to reveal some unidentified guy. This display was
apparently meant to show how anybody could be made to resemble Sting,
so Tony Schiavone finally decided that the real Sting may not have
been helping Randy Savage after all. JJ Dillon came out with Judge
Mills Lane, who was born at night, but not last night. Mills Lane says
"get it on" a few times too many. He'll referee a taped fist match
between Piper & Bagwell at the PPV. That's what we needed to see.
Konnan & Rey Misterio Jr. faced Fit Finlay & Steve Regal. Master P is
nowhere to be found, but luckily Konnan & Rey have BA Brad Armstrong,
Swole, and Chase Tatum with them. Now, that is a force to be reckoned
with. Match was so short it isn't worth talking about. All four
wrestlers deserve better than this. Yikes. The Cowboys came out to end
our misery at 2:28.
El Hijo del Nature Boy, David Flair faced Buff Bagwell for the US
Title. Now, everybody had to expect a title change, so I was guessing
they'd find a way to avoid one. David can't do anything. Just to
address the readers who e-mailed, yes, I was quite aware last week
that David Flair is not undefeated. I remember when Ric sacrificed him
to Meng, too. Last week, I was just caught up in the excitement of the
moment, having funny wanting to be like Dave. Could WCW depress me any
more? Ric Flair & Arn Anderson got involved. Dean Malenko came out to
help Buff. But Dean is a buffoon who can't help anybody, as Roddy
Piper snuck in while nobody was watching (and, hey, look at the
ratings before you flame that) to whack Buff with a loaded right hand.
Yup, David got the pin on Buff in 3:17.
Doug Dillenger gathered up a few luchadors and got them to form a
lineup for Eddy Guerrero. Eddy said that the masked man who stole his
wallet was unmasked when he stole the wallet. So, the luchadors
unmasked one at a time while Eddy commented on their looks. He then
said none of these guys was the right man. Hak & Chastity came out to
announce that Hak wanted to have a hardcore PPV match in a junkyard
against anybody who wanted it. Yay! We get to see Hak at the PPV.
Bam Bam Bigelow & Kanyon & Diamond Dallas Page faced Chris Benoit &
Dean Malenko & Perry Saturn. Before the match, DDP said his new catch
phrase: "You love me, you hate me, you'll never forget me." In
reality, he could leave today and I wouldn't miss him tomorrow. This
wasn't a tag title match, because tag titles matches only allow the
heels to use all three guys. Got it? Match was darned good. Benoit was
awesome. What else is new? Lots of good stuff, with Benoit hitting the
top rope head butt for the pin at 7:19 of what we saw, which doesn't
seem to bode well for a title change at the PPV.
Goldberg made an appearance, saying "I'm back!", after Megadeath did
something they said was music.
Kevin Nash faced Sid Vicious for the WCW Title. Michael Buffer said
Sid is rated by wrestling fans as one of the all time greatest big men
in the history of wrestling. You see, that's another reason why we can
be embarrassed to be wrestling fans. Nash said that Savage and the
women should disappear if Savage ever wants to see George again. Tony
Schiavone approved, 'cause he likes hostages and kidnapping. The crowd
was excited with this top drawing cards in the ring, chanting
"Goldberg!" Wow, Nash threw some punches! He hit some clotheslines! My
wife said, "What a stupid match." Savage ran in again. Two on one, the
ref still allowed it to continue. NWO Sting came to the ring and
pummelled Nash, with the commentators thinking it was the real Sting.
Real Sting came in for the save. Match never ended, call it 3:55. Real
Sting whacked NWO Sting. But Nash didn't know that there were two
Stings, so he powerbombed the real Sting before walking off. TSN cut
away immediately. It seemed choppy, so I'm guessy there was another
minute after this.
Tally time: 34:38 of bell-to-bell wrestling. That's just pitiful.
- Of course, the biggest news pertaining to WCW is the loss of Chris
Jericho to the WWF, although I'm sure no decision-maker in WCW feels
that it is that big of a deal. Yeah, they did decide that they wanted
to keep him, offering him a good deal, no doubt better than his
downside contract with the WWF, but you've got to believe that Jericho
made the right decision. In the WWF, there's no guarantee that he
won't end up a midcard guy who doesn't get over, who works a lot more
than he would in WCW and gets paid less. But the crucial element that
decided his status in WCW was the people at the top of the company,
something he really couldn't control. In the WWF, his status will be
decided much more by his own ability to turn on a crowd, something
that he undisputedly has. He signed a three-year deal with the WWF.
Jericho, unlike some other guys, doesn't have a family depending on
every dime he gives them. He can make a decision to go to the WWF,
taking a chance that his natural ability will be enough to make him a
huge star, disregarding the financial and travel hit he takes if his
shot fails.
- Scott Steiner's accumulated back injuries may be enough to force him
out of the business for good. He certainly is going to be taking an
extended leave from WCW. As a result, the promotion was expected to
crown a new US champion on Nitro this week (if you've already read the
above review you know if that went down). The bookers are very high on
Ernest Miller, with Meltzer mentioning that Miller is teaching Eric
Bischoff's kid karate, despite always laying in subtle jabs at his
"brutal" matches, and the plan at one point was to put the strap on
Miller for a feud with Disco Inferno. Oh boy. The other possibility,
which might even serve to tie up a storyline, would be to put the
title on Buff Bagwell.
- We should note that WCW's much-publicized celebrity deals with
Master P and Dennis Rodman may well have fallen apart already. Like
every celebrity who the promotions bend over to bring in, P decided he
was worth a lot more than his initial appearances established him to
be worth. As a result, the usual power struggle occurred and the deal
seems to be dead. If only Eric Bischoff would apply the same reasoning
to the egotistical demands of a few obvious wrestlers in the group.
- I've received a lot of e-mail in recent weeks from people who say
that I'm obviously not a wrestling fan so I should just stop watching
the shows from WCW and the WWF. In case it isn't clear from my
writings in recent months, there are reasons for a fan like me
(work/workrate conscious) to watch both promotions. In the WWF, X-Pac
is just great. Mick Foley's interviews are wonderful, and he's still
the only guy who can somehow do garbage wrestling sensibly. The push
of the Hardy Boyz is a new good thing because they bump so well and
show the signs of wanting to improve. And when Chris Jericho comes in
he'll pull the best matches ever out of mediocre-to-good guys like
Rock and HHH. In WCW, Chris Benoit, Eddy Guerrero, Juventud Guerrera,
Billy Kidman, Dean Malenko, more cruisers, Booker T, and others are
reasons to watch. The pain of watching WCW is that you have to enjoy
the good or great matches in isolation of anything happening in the
promotion because the company is just so screwed up. Guys like the
Hardy Boyz don't hold a candle to the WCW guys mentioned above, yet
the WWF will manage to get them over because they will actually try.
- The Observer mentions that Ric Flair is supposed to be out of the
ring to recover from a back injury. Even though he's supposedly
shelved, he still managed to appear at every show where we was booked,
perhaps not to wrestle but at least to appear. The guy is such a pro.
In Auburn Hills, MI, Randy Savage was to face Buff Bagwell, with both
wrestlers refusing to lose to the other. Flair was there and and
volunteered to run-in at the finish, turn the match into a three-way,
and let Bagwell pin him. Flair was apparently very excited about a
young vs. old story that would include him, Hogan, Piper, and Savage
together as an old side, but Savage balked, of course, and the angle
is already struggling. Flair didn't even mind if he would have to do
the jobs for his side.
And at Nitro last week, "there was a lot of heat backstage. Bagwell
was complaining because he was asked to do a job for Sid in a dark
match after the show ended, and Malenko was mad because when they do
tag matches, Bagwell is the one who gets all the glory but he's the
one who does all the work and looks bad in the finishes."
- The Observer mirrored most of my complaints of the WWF's King of the
Ring PPV. Dave Meltzer was equally incredulous that the show ended 20
minutes early when so many matches that could have been good were kept
so short. He suggested that they purposely toned down the show because
it was the first one after Owen Hart's death, noting that the
dangerous bumps were all but eliminated and done much more carefully.
He also laid into Big Slow vs. Kane, giving the match - * and writing
"In a spot right out of an Ernest Miller Nitro match, both guys went
for high kicks at the same time, which would have been tricky with
good wrestlers and anyway, both missed by about a foot and both fell
down."
And talking about Nitro the next night, Meltzer wrote that Benoit &
Saturn vs. Regal & Finlay was "easily the best match on the show and
better than anything on the WWF PPV the night before as well."
- Raven is still out with his rotator cuff injury. I wonder if they'll
bring him back with a coherent storyline involving Kanyon and Bigelow?
Yeah, right. While he's out, Raven is also having the fat sucked out
of his breasts.
- David McLane, who longtime fans will remember as the mastermind
behind GLOW, is apparently going to get back in the wrestling business
with a women's promotion, riding on the tails of the success that the
WWF has had with various silicone-enhanced unskilled women.
- The Observer reports that Sid is earning $500K per year in his
two-year deal with WCW, although Sid himself is telling people that
he's pulling in $1.5-million per year. The Toronto Sun reported that
Sid's deal only requires him to appear on Nitro and at PPVs, although
he has been on Thunder as well (but not at routine house shows), so
don't think he isn't doing well per appearance. They give deals like
this to guys with "drawing power." Sid, Hogan, Nash, Savage, etc.
They've got drawing power. I wonder which one will use his power to
draw the chalk outline around the corpse of WCW when it dies.
- ECW & TNN have announced that they have reached an agreement for ECW
to have a one hour show on the network on Friday nights. There was
talk that Rob Van Dam's love of marijuana might have thrown a wrench
into the mix at the eleventh hour, but I guess things were ironed out.
The first new show is scheduled to air on 08/27/99, but they will air
a background show the Fridays beforehand.
- WCW has Bash at the Beach on 07/11/99. Tentative line-up has:
* Sid & Randy Savage vs. Kevin Nash & Sting
* Curt Hennig & Bobby Duncum Jr. & Barry Windham & Kendall Windham
vs. Rey Misterio Jr. & Konnan & Swole & Brad Armstrong
* Bam Bam Bigelow & Diamond Dallas Page & Kanyon vs. Chris Benoit &
Perry Saturn for the WCW Tag Titles
* Roddy Piper vs. Buff Bagwell in a taped fist match with Judge
Mills Lane as referee
* Ric Flair vs. Dean Malenko
* Van Hammer vs. Rick Steiner for the TV Title
* Hak vs. ? in a hardcore match
- The WWF has Fully Loaded on 07/25/99. Tentative line-up has:
* Steve Austin vs. Undertaker in a first blood match: If Austin
wins, Vince will never get involved in his business and we will
never see Vince again (whatever that means). If Undertaker wins,
Austin will never challenge for the WWF Title again. No
explanation of what happens if there is a DQ, but I guess this
match stipulation precludes that possibility.
* Rocky Maivia vs. Hunter Hearst Helmsley
* X-Pac & Road Dogg vs. Billy Gunn & Chyna
* D'Lo Brown vs. Midian for the European Title
* Big Slow vs. Kane
* Ken Shamrock vs. Steve Blackman
* Test vs. Joey Abs
Hey, just putting Kane vs. Slow in a rematch is enough to make me want
to order. I hate watching bland, mediocre matches. I either want to
see awesome bouts or brutally bad bouts. I hope they give these guys
the right amount of time for a real tour-de-force.
- The Observer points out that Chaz dropping the Beaver Cleavage
gimmick and working without a strong gimmick "appears to even more
send the message that if you're in the WWF and you don't like your
gimmick, you just don't do it and everything is fine. It's a form of
subtle Owen Hart damage control for the public and also dumping a bad
gimmick at the same time."
- Terry Taylor wants to recreate the WWF lightheavyweight division yet
again, but nobody expects anything to come out of the desire.
- PPV buy rates, revenue (in millions), and match statistics for the
WWF, WCW, and ECW are presented in the following 1998 summary sheet
(the PPV draw(s) are listed, as well as the quality matches):
Show Data Match Rating Data
Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * *
WWF
99/04/25: Backlash
Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 1.06 $5.09 2.28 * * 1/4 * * * * 1/4
Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 12.5%
(1 of 8)
99/03/28: WrestleMania
Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 2.3 $12.04 1.13 * 1/4 * * * 1/2
Steve Austin vs. Rocky Maivia 0.0%
(0 of 9, no shoot)
99/02/14: St. Valentine's Day Massacre
Steve Austin vs. Vince McMahon
Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia 1.2 $5.33 1.28 * 1/4 * * * 3/4
Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia 0.0%
(0 of 8)
99/01/24: Royal Rumble
Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia
Royal Rumble 1.57 $6.97 1.83 * 1/2 * * * 3/4
Mankind vs. Rocky Maivia 0.0%
(0 of 6)
Last 6 1.39 $6.56 1.43 1.38 3.58 1.9%
(1 of 53)
1999 1.53 $7.36 1.61 1.56 3.81 3.2%
(1 of 31)
1998 1.02 $4.42 1.60 1.63 3.65 4.0%
(4 of 101)
Show Data Match Rating Data
Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * *
WCW
99/06/13: Great American Bash
Kevin Nash vs. Randy Savage 0.43 2.05 0.75 3/4* * * * 1/4
Chris Benoit & Saturn vs. Diamond Dallas Page & Kanyon 0%
(0 of 9)
99/05/09: Slamboree
Kevin Nash vs. Diamond Dallas Page 0.45 2.15 1.75 * * * * * 1/4
Raven & Saturn vs. Rey Misterio Jr. & Konnan vs. Chris Benoit & Dean
Malenko 0%
(0 of 9)
99/04/11: Spring Stampede
Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan vs. Diamond Dallas Page vs. Sting 0.6 2.86
2.31 * * 1/2 * * * * 1/4
Juventud Guerrera vs. Blitzkrieg 11.1%
(1 of 9)
99/03/14: Uncensored
Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan 0.73 $3.48 1.83 * * * * * 1/2
Billy Kidman vs. Mikey Whippreck 0%
(0 of 9)
99/02/21: SuperBrawl
Ric Flair vs. Hulk Hogan 1.1 $5.27 1.89 * * 1/2 * * * 1/4
Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Kevin Nash
Scott Steiner vs. Diamond Dallas Page 0%
(0 of 9)
99/01/17: Souled Out
Bill Goldberg vs. Scott Hall
Ric Flair & David Flair vs. Curt Hennig & Barry Windham 0.78 $3.64
1.83 * 1/2 * * * *
Billy Kidman vs. Rey Misterio Jr. vs. Juventud Guerrera vs. Psicosis
11.1%
(1 of 9)
Last 6 0.75 $3.51 1.73 1.89 3.71 4.8%
(3 of 63)
1999 0.68 $3.24 1.73 1.88 3.58 3.7%
(2 of 54)
1998 0.93 $3.96 1.54 1.73 3.73 4.5%
(5 of 111)
Show Data Match Rating Data
Show Details Buy Rate Gross Mean Median Peak % >= * * * *
ECW
99/01/10: Guilty As Charged
Shane Douglas vs. Taz 0.2 $0.42 1.68 * * 1/2 * * * 1/2
Yoshihiro Tajiri vs. Super Crazy 0.0%
(0 of 7)
Last 6 0.22 $0.42 1.93 2 3.42 5.3%
(1 of 19)
1999 0.2 $0.42 1.68 2.5 3.5 0.0%
(0 of 7)
1998 0.23 $0.43 1.56 1.5 3.00 3.7%
(1 of 27)
Longer-term data is available. The data now runs back to 1991.
______________________________________________________________________
Thanks to: Masaki Aso.
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